Not only are we celebrating our 10th year of Customer Service Excellence in Learning Services but following our assessment in January 2015, we now have a fantastic 10 compliance pluses which are given to services who go that ‘extra mile’ for customers!
In this our
10th year as award holders, we were delighted that our work was recognised with another 2 compliance pluses. The first was for our use of UX (user experience) and ethnographic techniques to gain a deeper understanding of the needs of our customers. The second was for the introduction of our 24/7 live chat service which launched in Oct 2014.
Where did our journey begin? In 2004 Learning Services were one of a small number of academic libraries who achieved the award (originally called Chartermark). In 2010 the government reviewed the award and it became known as Customer Service Excellence and is based on 5 key elements:
Customer Insight; knowing who your customers are, consulting with them, involving them in decision making.
Culture of the Organisation; showing a commitment to building a customer focused culture right through the organisation from senior managers to the front line staff.
Information and Access; providing accurate and comprehensive information and ensuring it is delivered via most appropriate channels.
Delivery; achieving positive outcomes for customers, listening to their views, achieving key performance targets.
Timeliness and Quality; ensuring prompt action, keeping to agreed timescales, always trying to ensure that speed of service doesn’t come at the expense of quality.
In Learning Services one of the most important thing we can do as part of offering a good customer service is communicating with our customers. This doesn’t mean telling you things. It means listening, finding out what is important to you and putting ourselves in your shoes as much as we can.
If you would like to find out more about the award, or are interested in participating in one of our many user experience groups just get in touch.
Helen Jamieson, Customer Services Manager