FAQs on Customer Connection
What is Customer Connection?
The programme involves BT Wholesale's In-life Product Managers visiting customers' contact centres to gain a direct insight into the performance of their product in a real life customer situation.
What is the purpose of the programme?
The programme involves BT Wholesale's In-life Product Managers visiting customers' contact centres to gain a direct insight into the performance of their product in a real life customer situation.
How is the programme structured?
The entire in-life BT Wholesale product management community are taking part in the programme. They will visit a range of different types of customer contact centres including those in BT Wholesale. The programme will continue across the year, rolling on a quarterly basis, with the first visits scheduled to take place in June.
Why is the programme being launched?
To gather feedback from our customers, and to enhance the culture of our product community, making it more customer focused through placing team members in the customer environment.
What are the benefits to my organisation in participating?
Participating in Customer Connection will bring you:
• The opportunity for dialogue and to build relationships with the people closest to the management of the products provided by BT Wholesale.
• The ability to contribute to feedback pointed at the heart of our product community.
• A chance for your front-line teams to have their views aired.
What do I need to be eligible for participation in the programme?
A UK-mainland contact or operational centre that handles any workload relating to the retailing of a BT Wholesale product. Please ask your account manager for more information if you are in doubt.
Where did the idea come from for the programme, and who are the main programme sponsors?
The concept for the programme came from Angus Flett, director of BT Wholesale's product line. The programme is endorsed at director level across our sales and customer service teams.
How do I register my interest in participating in the programme?
Contact your account manager, or email customerconnection@bt.com. A representative from the customer connection programme team will contact you to arrange a meeting, either face-to-face or audio, to talk about the programme in more detail and answer any questions you may have. If you are happy with what you hear and want to participate, you can make visit arrangements either direct with the customer connection team, or via your account manager, if you prefer.
Who from my organisation would you like to be involved in the visit?
The aim behind the programme is that our product managers get the opportunity to observe the in-life operational issues that your frontline staff experience when working with BT Wholesale products. That said, anyone from your organisation can attend the visit if you feel their presence would help achieve this.
How many of my staff will this involve? Will I have to take them offline?
Again, this is entirely up to you.
How long will the visit take?
Visits are scheduled to last half a day, although longer visits can be arranged if you wish.
How many BT Wholesale product managers should I expect to attend if I participate, and how often?
How many product managers you can host at one time, and how many visits you can host, is enitrely open for discussion.
Do I have to make any arrangements for the visit?
This is up to you. The agenda for the day can be driven by you, or by BT Wholesale. Our aim is to finish the day with the best possible insight into your customer experience, and gain a broad understanding of the requirements and issues that face your business moving forward. Any activities that you would like to engage our product managers in that would achieve this would be welcome.
What support will I have?
The whole process will be managed by BT Wholesale, via your account manager and the product line.
What will happen during the visit from the product manager?
The structure of the day will be driven by you and the product manager. Typical activities would be listening to calls from end users and attending focus groups with staff, although ultimately you have a "blank canvas" to structure the day if you wish. The product manager may well have ideas for activities, but will have been asked to run these by your account manager before the visit. The product manager will be provided with a structured feedback form designed to capture your people's issues and highlights observed during the day.
How will the success of the programme be measured?
By your feedback and continued participation. The programme also ties in with BT Wholesale's Customer Satisfaction Index.
What happens after the Customer Connection visit?
You will be asked for feedback on your visit both immediately after the visit, and then on a quarterly basis. The feedback that the BT Wholesale product managers collect will be collated centrally by the customer connection team (see below).
Will there be opportunities to reciprocate on site visits?
Yes, this can be arranged via your account manager and service management centre as a business as usual process.
What will be done with the feedback the product managers collect?
The feedback collected will be collated, prioritised occurring to frequency of occurrence, and presented internally across our products, sales and customer service teams, subject to your written consent. Within the bounds of customer confidentiality, the output will also be published externally.
Who within BT Wholesale will be responsible for any issues gathered during the visits? If I raise a specific issue during the visit, can I expect the visiting product manager to take personal responsibility for resolving it?
All of the feedback items gathered during visits will be returned to a central point in the product line, collated, and prioritised according to frequency of occurrence. This means that we will resolve to address the most commonly occurring issues as a priority.
I have concerns over confidentiality of information. What assurances can you give me as to what information you will take from your visit, and what will be done with it?
Any information collected during visits will be subject to the conditions of the Telecoms Strategic Review.
I have some suggestions for improvement to the programme. Where do I direct them?
We value your feedback. Please send it to customerconnection@bt.com
I have a question that does not appear here. Where should I direct it?
Please direct all questions to your account manager, who will liaise with the Customer Connection team, or email customerconnection@bt.com
