PLEASE ANSWER "QUESTIONS"

Case: Runners Edge-Call Center Process Analysis Introduction Steve Watterson, Vice President of Operations for Runners Edge, is concerned about their call center's performance. Mr. Watterson has just finished reading a report prepared by a consultant who has conducted interviews with 200 customers that had contacted the Runners Edge call center. The study was conducted over four weeks using data generated from call center reports. Runners Edge offers a complete line of athletic shoe products that are distributed throughout Europe. The customer service representatives (CSRs) at the call center are trained in how to assist the customer to select exactly the correct shoe to match his or her needs and to properly fit the shoe to the customer. It is thought that this attention to satisfying the customer is important to the success of the online business. The results of the survey are summarized in the accompanying table which provides insight into the operation of the call center. From the report, it is clear that there is much room for improvement in the operation of the center. Mr. Watterson gets a sick feeling after reading the report. Runners Edge recently invested heavily in inventory to ensure that shoes would be available in the distribution center, yet customers still are not happy with the call center's service. He could well understand the major complaint. He like the customers, hates to wait. The report indicates that customers are having to wait at multiple points in the process. They wait for the phone to be answered, they wait on hold for a CSR to be available, they wait for advice from a running expert on shoe performance, and they wait to check out. Something must be done to ensure that the call centers operate in a manner that cuts down on customer waiting time. The consultants have done a thorough job. Some data from the interviews are contained in their report. The consultants have offered to continue with a thorough analysis of the problems with suggested solutions. Besides the high fee, the consultants indicate that it would be a month before they could complete the follow-up report. Mr. Watterson does not want to wait that long and is asking for your help in analyzing the data. The Consultants' Report The report is written totally from a customer point of view. It begins by categorizing the different activities of the customer while connected to the Runners Edge call center. For each of these activities the consultants surveyed the customers to determine how satisfied they are with the manner in which the service is completed. The report includes various statistics on how often the activities are performed as a customer moves through the call center process. The following table summarizes the main points of the report. For each activity, the report details what percentage of customers actually engage in the activity. Details based on the survey question that relates to each activity are given. The questions use a six-point scale to indicate a range of dissatisfaction (low numbers) to complete satisfaction (6.0 is the highest). Mr. Watterson is concerned about the consultants findings regarding flow through the call center. The idea of categorizing the activities and tracking the flow of customers from one activity to the other had not occurred to him before. He could see that by looking at the operation of the call center in this manner, the center operates much like a factory. He knew that there is much variability in how long it takes to perform each of the tasks in his Runners Edge call center and wonders how to account for this uncertainty. Page 332 Tack Oratcome and Average Taak Time Evaluation of Customer Satisfaction and Major Complaints That Relate to the Tack How helpful was the automated system? (3.4) Major complaiet: The length of time before they could reach a CSR (47 percent) 53 percent remained on the line to wait for the next available CSR-5 minutes 23 percent stered to the recorded Phone call is received at the call center. The message and hang up before automated system instructs customer to wait talicing to the CSR-5 minutes for the next available representative or to 20 percent leit a phone camber for request a callback a callback-40 seconda 4 percent used the automated system to ADOS A Epecific department person outside the call center-40 secoada Process customer request: customer service representative (CSR) handles the Dext call in the customer waiting queue os the first person on the callback list and the request is discussed 60 percent proceeded to order entry and billing after checking Did you find the explanation of your different shoe choices zailability of shoes-3 minutes helpful? (4.0) 20 percent treered to a running expert to discuss shoe performance familiar with the shoes they wanted. Major complaint: 30 percent indicated that the CSR was not -4 minutes 10 percent sought information on retums or help with billing goesticar and are transferred to oder entry and billio-2 minutes 10 percent hang up after talking to the CSR-3 minutes How helpful was the running expert at identify the best shoe? (5.0) Major complaint: 40 percent indicated that their preferred payment method was oot available. 70 percent Sound shoes and Running expert ocultation: Discusses the transferred to order entry and -election of a shoe with the customer, finds a balling for parchast-10 minste boe, and transfers to bilice 30 percent could not find shoe and brang up-5 minutes 84 percent made a purchase-5 minute: 7 percent processed Areture-3 Order entry and billing Processes garchases, erinte: returas, and billing questions. 4 percent resolved a balling error- 10 minutes 5 percent base up before talking to a cleric-0 minutes The complaint about waiting seems to indicate that there are not enough CSRs available at the call center. Currently there are six CSRs working at the center. Calls arrive at the rate of 100 per hour. There are three running experts employed at the call center and six billing clerks. Mr. Watterson wonders if it is worth adding additional CSRs, running experts, or billing clerks to reduce complaints. Questions 1. Make a flowchart of the activities performed by a customer calling into the Runners Edge call center. Show in your flowchart all of the possible ways that a customer might move through the activities identified by the consultants. 2. How well do you believe the call center is performing? How helpful is the information on complaints provided by the consultants? 3. Based on your flowchart and the list of complaints, where should Mr. Watterson focus his attention for improvements? 4. What performance measures should Mr. Watterson consider to improve performance? Queueing Assignment This section requires use of the queueing models discussed in Chapter 10. 1. Model the flow of customers through the call center. Assume that an average of 100 customers per hour call the center. Also, assume that the call center is operated by six CSRs, three running consultants, and six billing clerks. 2. Calculate the input rate (events/hour) and the average time per event for each of the three departments. 3. Calculate the average utilization, for each of the three departments given the current staffing levels. 4. What should Mr. Watterson do to improve performance