freitasm: I may not publish the full document. I have asked this ISP for comments on how they plan to reconcile the internal savings proposed in this document with the declining quality in customer services seeing in some contact areas there's indication of up to 45% reduction in headcount.

mattwnz: I am surprised ISPs haven't begun to charge for some types of customer support if you phone them, but keeping online and email support free (albeit slow). This is the model some other types of online service companies are charging. Trademe for example have been doing this for years, although their email support is pretty good. The other is giving away the service for free, but if you need support, you have to pay.

billbennett: It's hardly surprising given that none of the big ISPs make much money from consumer broadband services (see: http://www.geekzone.co.nz/content.asp?contentid=17128)

Geekzone readers would probably be happier paying a couple of dollars more each month for broadband knowing they'll get decent service when needed. The less technically-focused public would probably rather keep the cash. At least until they encounter really awful customer service. 

This leaves a great opportunity for an ISP to position itself as THE customer service brand. That sometimes happens in overseas markets. 

plambrechtsen:

billbennett: It's hardly surprising given that none of the big ISPs make much money from consumer broadband services (see: http://www.geekzone.co.nz/content.asp?contentid=17128)

Geekzone readers would probably be happier paying a couple of dollars more each month for broadband knowing they'll get decent service when needed. The less technically-focused public would probably rather keep the cash. At least until they encounter really awful customer service. 

This leaves a great opportunity for an ISP to position itself as THE customer service brand. That sometimes happens in overseas markets. 

I personally disagree with that statement. Price is all anyone cares about be it geek or not. The customer service needs to get so bad it's a joke before it starts impacting if customers start leaving.

Look at the ongoing arguments over Chorus and the comcom over the price of wholesale broadband.
Look at bigpipe and its success amongst geek circles due to price because they have no helpdesk.
Look at Vodafone AU... Their service (not customer service) had to get worse than shocking before it seriously shed customers.

So in my personal view the service you pay for needs to effectively cease working before you move providers if the price is the lowest.

NZ is a low wage economy. So everything is focused on price.

plambrechtsen:

billbennett: It's hardly surprising given that none of the big ISPs make much money from consumer broadband services (see: http://www.geekzone.co.nz/content.asp?contentid=17128)

Geekzone readers would probably be happier paying a couple of dollars more each month for broadband knowing they'll get decent service when needed. The less technically-focused public would probably rather keep the cash. At least until they encounter really awful customer service. 

This leaves a great opportunity for an ISP to position itself as THE customer service brand. That sometimes happens in overseas markets. 

I personally disagree with that statement. Price is all anyone cares about be it geek or not. The customer service needs to get so bad it's a joke before it starts impacting if customers start leaving.

Look at the ongoing arguments over Chorus and the comcom over the price of wholesale broadband.
Look at bigpipe and its success amongst geek circles due to price because they have no helpdesk.
Look at Vodafone AU... Their service (not customer service) had to get worse than shocking before it seriously shed customers.

So in my personal view the service you pay for needs to effectively cease working before you move providers if the price is the lowest.

NZ is a low wage economy. So everything is focused on price.

plambrechtsen:

billbennett: It's hardly surprising given that none of the big ISPs make much money from consumer broadband services (see: http://www.geekzone.co.nz/content.asp?contentid=17128)

Geekzone readers would probably be happier paying a couple of dollars more each month for broadband knowing they'll get decent service when needed. The less technically-focused public would probably rather keep the cash. At least until they encounter really awful customer service. 

This leaves a great opportunity for an ISP to position itself as THE customer service brand. That sometimes happens in overseas markets. 

I personally disagree with that statement. Price is all anyone cares about be it geek or not. The customer service needs to get so bad it's a joke before it starts impacting if customers start leaving.

Look at the ongoing arguments over Chorus and the comcom over the price of wholesale broadband.
Look at bigpipe and its success amongst geek circles due to price because they have no helpdesk.
Look at Vodafone AU... Their service (not customer service) had to get worse than shocking before it seriously shed customers.

So in my personal view the service you pay for needs to effectively cease working before you move providers if the price is the lowest.

NZ is a low wage economy. So everything is focused on price.

nickb800: 
As has been touched on in this thread, I think the big red telco could comfortably and without impact on customers shed 45% of support staff AFTER they fully integrate their billing and online self-service systems to function reliably. That said, I don't trust them to understand the subtly of cutting support staff after getting their systems working

plambrechtsen: Look at bigpipe and its success amongst geek circles due to price because they have no helpdesk.

[Telco] is in the process of consulting on a number of changes with our customer care team, as we look to complete the wider organisational change programme we announced in November last year.

We will be implementing a number of initiatives aimed at achieving faster call answering times and a quicker first-call resolution for our customers. These include; further investment in removing systems and process duplication (particularly for fixed line services); continuing to improve self-service functionality with the [telco] app and on our online site; creating new roles [New Zealand location]; providing a better work environment through a more stable work roster; and leveraging our existing capability at our [offshore] service centre to complete simple transactional tasks (top-ups, account balance enquiries, etc).

This is a draft proposal at this stage, and is subject consultation with our teams. Our top priority is to support our people through this change.

freitasm: I have contacted said telco about this document and received the following reply:



The 55-page document does mention that changes in the customer services team will allow for better roster scheduling, with team leaders available at times similar to their team. (What do they have now? Teams with no leaders at some times?)