Deep wounds from poor internal service
Only 20% of the time customer dissatisfaction is due to contact staff. This means that, to dive into the deeper causes, we must go to the internal processes that the customer does not see, but are crucial for the contact employee to have adequate tools and responses to customer demands.
I recently published an article with a TARP study that showed that only 20% of the time customer dissatisfaction is due to a bad attitude or mistakes from the contact staff.
This means that, to dive into the deeper causes, we must go upstream, that is, to internal processes that the customer does not see, but are crucial for the contact employee to have adequate tools and responses to customer demands..
And in this way we come to understand those processes as internal services.
What are internal services and its problems
If we look at the operation of an organization, we can see that there is a chain where each link is a customer of the previous link, and a supplier of the next, until reaching the final customer.
However, and especially in large organizations, it is very difficult for each employee to visualize the complete map, and see how the value of their own link impacts on the end customer.
The usual thing is to stick to the function itself. I am in the financial department, so I must comply with certain processes, regulations, authorizations,… And I defend my result based on those parameters, regardless of whether or not it serves my internal client and if, consequently, we are contributing to the goals of the organization.
The problem is that many internal services are often peripheral to the main operation. For example, the Human Resources department of an oilfield services organization. It is absolutely necessary to have the right people, develop them, retain them, but this is not the core of your business, which makes them lose importance and limits them to "perform their duties."
But this situation has serious consequences!
Consequences of poor internal service
I have had to work within an organization, providing an internal service (I hired consulting and training for different companies in a group) and now I am on the other side of the counter. The reality and the problems that I perceive are repeated frequently.
I see internal services as "the health" of the organization. When an organism is healthy, it does not perceive it. Simply this state allows you to develop your activities without restrictions, applying all your energy.
Health in itself does not produce results, but… lack of health limits them. Sometimes, even completely blocking them.
Example of an internal service that leaves deep wounds
A public organization dedicated to nuclear entrepreneurs and providing them with training had hired a trainer. Planning, delivery and satisfaction with the service were optimal for both parties, which would have been an excellent basis for a long-term and mutually beneficial relationship.
However, the organization could not meet its supplier payment commitments due to inefficiencies and excessive internal bureaucracy, from the supplier payment department (one of its internal services).
These deficiencies made both the supplier and the contractor decide not to repeat this experience. A deep wound that directly affects the external service of the organization: the training of its associates.
I have also seen how providers refuse to provide certain services because they consider that it is not worth going through such tortuous and expensive processes; or they raise their prices considerably to cover that extra work that they will have to assume.
In short, injuries that are limiting, restricting and affecting the service that finally reaches the external customer.
Fortunately, many organizations have realized this problem and have already taken on the challenge of rescuing internal services from the peripheries, and putting them in a relevant place, in which the value they provide is health for the entire organization, and the potential of achieve your goals.
