Why did you wish to achieve the Customer Service Excellence Standard?
Birmingham City University Library and Learning Resources (L&LR) first attained Customer Service Excellence Accreditation in 2006. This was just the start of a change in L&LR’s organisational culture
As the university recognised the need to improve the student experience and driven by the Customer Service Excellence (CSE) standard, L&LR began a paradigm shift in its focus to become a more customer centred service. This was realised by initiatives such as a customer journey mapping, student employment, KPI developments and the creation of a customer feedback database.
In 2017, L&LR embarked on a staff restructure including the creation of a dedicated Customer Services team and the re-deployment of another team to focus on academic engagement. This in turn led to a new approach to re-attaining the CSE award. The importance of threading a customer focussed approach throughout our service was recognised.
What was your approach to assessment?
We chose representatives from each area of L&LR to work on the attainment of the award. This ensured that the framework was applied to all areas of our service. Each member was the de-facto CSE champions for their teams, promoting the standard and gathering evidence. This was to embed a customer service focus in all aspects of the service, not just the frontline teams. Subgroups were formed to concentrate on different criteria and evidence was uploaded to SharePoint. An overview template was created for each criterion to add narratives for the final submission on the self-assessment tool. Throughout the year, members also attended network and chat discussions and all staff CSE briefings were delivered to ensure that the standard was at the forefront of all service developments.
What have you experienced as the impact/benefit of the CSE Standard?
The benefit of working with the CSE standard has been a transformation in our service culture from being a mostly transactional service to one that prides itself on the quality of its service delivery. This is evident in L&LR attaining the highest score in the university in the national student satisfaction survey. Feedback from customers has been consistently positive since attaining the standard and there is a recognition of the value of the service in the wider university, most recently noted by an investment in our spaces based on customer feedback derived through the process. We have also been approached by other departments to provide consultation in their own pursuit of the standard.
The CSE award has brought L&LR together to focus on how we can all improve the customer experience and ensure that our services are delivered to a high standard. This is our stamp of quality, embedded in our strategy and demonstrates how we excel at engagement.
How did the assessment feedback support you?
L&LR have always approached the standard as a continuous improvement tool and have therefore welcomed any feedback received. After each assessment, the CSE steering group analyses the feedback and identifies actions to be taken. An example of this was where feedback regarding a focus on academic staff engagement led to the redeployment of staff to become business partners focussing on building sustainable and meaningful professional relationships with the schools. Receiving feedback on areas of strengths was particularly important in order to recognise the dedication of our staff to improving the customer experience, to promote the service and to celebrate our achievements.
Why did you choose Assessment Services Ltd for your assessment?
Having seen the benefits of CSE in other institutions and having the support of a reputable organisation to obtain a nationally recognised standard, was the reason for choosing Assessment Services. The ongoing guidance and support have been excellent.
Author
Annmarie Lee, Head of Library Experience, Library and Learning Resources, Birmingham City University.
