Business success lies in accumulating and managing many small strengths, but the most important reason that some companies attract customers is their determination to provide “different value”; Some companies choose to add value to their customers through excellence in the provision of services, while others choose to create value through excellence in customer service.
If three value disciplines are defined: best total cost, best service and best total solution for the transport user; We treat as a company in the first case to provide a good service with an economic rate with the least degree of difficulty and inconvenience. Better service means that services continually redefine the latest in their field, and being intimate with the user means selling them a total solution, not just a service.
The chosen value discipline affects the entire organization and shapes all subsequent plans and decisions of the company; It is equivalent to defining the very nature of the company, thus constituting a “corporate culture” that it is convenient to define through the vision, mission and business values, developing it methodically and carefully within the entire organization to impregnate contagious enthusiasm and generate high degree of belonging and teamwork to employees, and thus be transmitted effectively and vigorously to customers, strengthening their loyalty.
As it is, it is teamwork that counts, not the individual.
All elements of the company know the battle plan and the rules; And when they go into action, everyone knows exactly what to do. It is therefore necessary to link highly trained and experienced personnel, who can be trained. It is required to cultivate at all levels of the company a highly motivated workforce dedicated to the value proposition of the transportation organization.
Implementing a strategic plan with clear service objectives, assessing the opportunities and threats of the transport services market and, on the other hand, the internal strengths and weaknesses of the company greatly facilitates this value proposition process that identifies the way of doing things in each company, harmonizing strategies, goals and policies, always thinking in terms of the user who is the raison d'être of the transport service provider:… the transporter…!
A practical example of strategic management is the proposal of the Technological Institute of Transport IITSA in order to contribute to the evolution of urban transport given its current situation and the urgent requirement to promote change in the business organization to face the challenge of the new competition scheme by the market imposed by transmilenio, with competitive advantages that persuade us to act intelligently on several fronts, which require paying special attention to those concerns that users of traditional urban collective transport have, such as the results obtained in the last survey carried out in September 2001 by the ITTSA market research group, in a sample of 599 users of Bogotá's collective public transport, with a confidence level of 95,5% and a margin of error of 4%, as follows:
In the first place, the opinion is unfavorable regarding the quality of the services where only 27.7% rate them as good; 54.1% as regular and 18.2% as bad. 72.5% of the users surveyed mobilize daily and think that they dislike the following, among other aspects: 44.2% show their dislike for rough driving of vehicles; 46.7% are bothered by overcrowding; 30.4% dislike speeding and recklessness of drivers; 30.6% of the uncleanliness of the vehicles and 48.1% feel uncomfortable due to the lack of culture and lack of respect of the operators with the user.
43.4% of collective transport users state that they are open to new transport offers, even indicating that they would be willing to pay a higher rate than the current one, as long as an excellent transportation service is provided to them; on the other hand, 74.7% are in accordance with the peak and plate norm established by the city hall.
The foregoing means then the importance of knowing in depth the concerns of travelers and their expectations in order to satisfy them by organizing services that, in addition to the quantitative analysis of demand, involve building new proposals through the pro-active restructuring of routes and corridors of transportation, consolidating strategic inter-business alliances of high synergy, prudently but effectively anticipating the official determinations of State agencies, recognizing its own weaknesses, assuming its responsibilities, subtly incorporating the philosophy of customer worship in the daily management of its businesses, instilling in your employees the notion of a common destiny,a deep understanding of what they do and why they do it and a sense of personal and professional fulfillment.
We must start immediately in the configuration of value proposals, the first phase being the preparation and training of human talent in areas where reinforcement is required to face such an important challenge; unitary business action to achieve results at the institutional level and political work to decide the future of transport and the improvement of the quality of life in the city.
