Why did you wish to achieve the Customer Service Excellence Standard?
The University Library first attained the standard in 2010 and has supported other areas of our converged service (SLAS) to initially work to attain the standard independently and then join together for a multi service approach. We choose to continue to work together to retain accreditation each year because we want to show how we place our customers, whether they be staff, students, alumni or members of the public at the heart of what we do.
Our University Strategy includes the following commitments:
- “We deliver an outstanding experience for all students”.
- “We are a place where colleagues feel they are valued and proud to work.”
- “We promote fairness in a community where all staff and students feel they belong”.
CSE links us directly back to these. SLAS is a super converged service including a diverse range of teams and CSE provides us with a common approach, tools and techniques regardless of the specific service delivered.
The CSE Standard provides a structured approach to evaluating customer service across the organisation, which forms an integral part of our Customer Strategy. It is a credible standard which helps us to celebrate what we’re doing well as an organisation, and it also highlights areas where we can grow and improve. Working within its framework helps us ensure that we remain customer-focused, accountable, and responsive in everything we do.
What was your approach to assessment?
As this is our 15th year of involvement, we have a tried and tested approach to preparing for the assessment. We have a CSE working group where each service involved in the assessment provides representatives (2-3 for each area). The group meets roughly every three weeks in the six months before the assessment to discuss the elements of the standard, bringing evidence and narrative from work they have already done within their respective teams. The exchange of ideas and discussion often sparks further suggestions. Evidence and activity is mapped to the criteria as we go along to assist with the creation of the submission narrative. One representative on the working group also sits on SLAS Executive and this helps to ensure that time and resource is provided to complete preparations in a timely manner. The working group also discusses who should be part of the meetings with the assessor to ensure a range of our customers, staff and stakeholders are represented.
Given the amount of expertise we have in house, we don’t really rely heavily on the Network anymore but in the early days we often engaged with, and visited, other institutions who had more experience than us as well as looking at the Self-Assessment Tool.
What have you experienced as the impact/benefit of the CSE Standard?
Over the years we have developed a wide range of techniques to obtain feedback from our customers. In a time of “survey fatigue” CSE has encouraged us to explore alternative methods such as taking a range of approaches to customer journey mapping and employing some low technology, analogue techniques when collecting feedback, whiteboards, love letters/break up letters. CSE is part of our approach to project planning – making sure that whatever service developments or improvements we have in train, are considered in terms of how they impact our customers.
Customer Journey Mapping has played a crucial part in some of the physical changes we have made to Student Central, our main student contact point, over the years as well as being a standard process for smaller system changes. Prior to working towards the standard there were many elements we took for granted rather than actually focusing on them and testing out our assumptions.
One of the biggest unexpected benefits has been a sense of pride in what we do and how we support our customers. Without the annual CSE assessment we would not necessarily take the time to share our developments and celebrate our achievements.
How did the assessment feedback support you?
Areas for continuous improvement tend to be new areas, just starting to develop, or something to which the assessor has brought a fresh pair of eyes. It’s useful to have feedback from this perspective and ensure that we continue to develop our services with a customer focus. Occasionally the assessor will flag something we have considered and rejected due to other considerations or pressures but again it is helpful to remind ourselves why we aren’t exploring this particular area – or that it might be time to re-visit it.
It’s really important to receive feedback on areas of strength to allow us to celebrate our successes but sometimes the assessor also provides a different viewpoint on an achievement. We often use the feedback on areas of strength to add weight to a development/resource request elsewhere in the University and we also sometimes share these comments with our customers, partners and stakeholders
Why did you choose Assessment Services Ltd for your assessment?
We have used Assessment Services since we began our CSE journey and the reason for the initial choice is lost in the mists of time! We continue to work with Assessment Services as we have found them to be efficient and supportive with clear communication and processes.
