South West Contact Centre Awards 2016 Support Team of the Year Dealer MI Team Who We Are Motability Operations is a not-for-profit company that runs the Motability car scheme the largest fleet operator in Europe, and the biggest supplier of used cars to the trade. Motability Operations currently works with 5,500 new car dealers, to ensure that 640,000 disabled people across the UK are given a worry free motoring package suitable for their mobility needs. Within Motability, Dealer Contact Services (DCS) are responsible for providing a first class customer service to our Dealer network. The Dealer MI team works within the Dealer Services Department supporting DCS to deliver the highest standards of service to our Dealer Partners and the 640,000 Motability Customers. Where We Started Dealer MI (Management Information) was a London based team until autumn 2011. The primary function of the team back then was to run the Motability Dealer Partnership (MDP) reward program and support Field Based teams and Marketing with reporting and analysis. The team was relocated to Bristol in 2011 and the remit of support expanded to the entire Dealer Service Department which included Dealer Contact Services (DCS). Where We Are Now The team back then was a very technical, systems driven team. The challenge for the new Bristol based team was to integrate fully with DCS, understand the challenges they face on a day to day basis and support them every step of the way in delivering excellent customer service. FROM THIS TO THIS
The Dealer MI team today The Bristol based Dealer MI is a team of 6 analysts; Ashley, Sorcha, Wayne, Steve, Kerry and Bex. Lee is the Dealer MI team manager. Many of the team were recruited from within the teams that Dealer MI supports. Creating this team dynamic was a very deliberate move to allow Dealer MI to really understand our customer needs. Prior to joining the Dealer MI team Ashley, Sorcha, Kerry and Bex all worked in a variety of roles across the Motability business, Ashley was a DCS advisor for 9 years, Sorcha worked as an advisor in the Customer Contact Centre and their insights have been invaluable on our journey. With this strong foundation of experienced, customer focused people in place, the team have been on a steep learning curve for all of the more technical aspects of the MI role. The result is a great balance of skills and experience and a team set up to deliver a great service. The big challenge for Dealer Contact Services: The last 12 months have seen some big changes for the Dealer Contact Centre and Dealer MI have been there every step of the way to support! In September 2015 Dealer Contact Services took on the additional responsibility for ensuring every Motability car has an MOT transacted on time. This is over 200,000 MOT s per year! They have also taken on responsibility for supporting customers who may be late in handing back their car when their 3 year agreement is coming to an end. Another 200,000 transactions a year that DCS need to ensure are managed successfully! DCS want to improve the experience for customers and dealerships throughout the transition of these new processes into the department The headcount available to DCS to deliver this new activity is 30% less than the previous team. The SLA and KPI for these activities must be maintained The entire transition had to be completed in 12 weeks! Why Did These Changes Take Place? An operational review in early 2015 identified an opportunity to make the MOT and Customer End of Contract business processes much more efficient, improving the transaction for both the dealership and the Motability customer With a proven track record of delivering excellent service, DCS was the obvious choice as a home for the activity
The Dealer MI effect With a company wide project to implement a new IT platform dominating the Business Systems agenda, Dealer MI stepped out of their comfort zone and set about building a purpose built application to manage all of the new activity from scratch. Developing a reliable and flexible application that would give the advisors a great user experience was at the forefront of the design What does the new app deliver? Flexible allocation of cases across advisors o The single point of contact improves the customer experience Grouping multiple cases to maximise the return from a single call to a dealership o One call can resolve many cases, driving efficiency Automatic daily updates o Replaces the need to manually run the case lists daily Built in workflow to easily progress the cases to other departments if necessary o Cuts down email traffic avoids duplication Comprehensive case notes and follow-up facility has been designed o Continuity and visibility for both the advisor and the customer/dealership Why are we proud of the results? Working together with the DCS team, good design and planning maximised our development time, vital with such a short time to deliver! Learning on the job! The majority of the coding was a first for the analysts in the team (google is our friend!)
We have had some great feedback from our customers, the DCS advisors using the app KPI s & SLA s are being met! The hard work and collaboration between DCS and Dealer MI have ensured that the challenging KPI s have been maintained with the reduced headcount What the advisors say? The Dealer MI team have transformed my working day completely in the last year. With their innovative use of new systems, and ability to build fantastic new tools, they have greatly reduced the amount of labour intensive and time consuming tasks our team complete. Tasks which used to take hours are now completed with a click of a button! This automation has not only improved the efficiency and accuracy of our work but more importantly it has given us more time to focus on what is really important, our customers Nicky DCS Aimee - DCS When it comes to quality of work MI are absolute role models for our business. They are the companies top performers in terms of attitude and their standard of work is exemplary. They have produced databases for our team that have made our jobs easier and more streamlined. These databases have also meant that we receive bang up to date information which means that, our service to our customers is now second to none! Thanks team for helping us to get it right first time.
I have been working at Motability operations for 10 years and although I believe we have always provided excellent customer service this has been taken to a unprecedented level within the last 12 months. 4 years ago the business decided to add a MI Team within Dealer Services and this team have skills I never even know existed! An example of this is how we used to copy and paste over 300 lease extensions request from our customers per day to send information to third parties ; this has been automated and works with a single hit of a button which provides an upload in seconds. This has saved 1 FTE and removed a terrible process from within my team I am a team manager within Dealer Services and throughout my own personal career would not of been in a position to achieve the goals and results I have with out this team. They are the go to team for everything from fancy 121 documents to an application which links directly to DVLA, VOSA and Royal Sun Alliance. I also want to add my team went for the Support team of the year 2015 and we were lucky enough to be finalists, in my opinion the work Dealer MI have done for our customers and dealers makes an entry from them even more worthy of chance to be Support Team of the Year! The team have taken the word support to a new level and are a asset to the business. - KELLY EDWARDS DCS MANAGER As a customer of the Dealer MI team I find them a pleasure to work with, passionate about delivering above and beyond and seeking out solutions for the long term. When requesting some support or MI from the team they are great at setting my expectations in terms of delivery timeframes and work with me to identify the most suitable solution. Frequently the team provide me with what I ve asked for but also go that step further in offering alternatives to ensure I have the best possible tools and MI in order to effectively plan resources for the contact centre. KATIE BROWNE - DCS REAL TIME MANAGER Dealer MI are a asset to our business. If there is a way of making our work easier and more efficient they will always find a useful tool or resolution. Our team have benefitted massively with the hard work and determination that MI have to improve our processes, which assist us in achieving our KPI s and excelling our customer service. LOUISE SAMPSON DCS ADVISOR
Summary The Dealer MI team at Motability Operations have worked incredibly hard over the past 12 months to support DCS in making a success of the new challenges that they have faced. However, whilst the delivery of the new MOT and the End of Contract application has been the centrepiece in terms of delivery for their DCS customers, the team have not lost focus on their key responsibilities of delivering a first class service of analysis, insight and operational efficiencies. These include: Excellent call forecasting for the contact centre for the year o The accuracy of the call forecast allowed the Real Time manager to plan resource with confidence Improving existing administrative processes through automation o An application cancellation process that took 8 hours per can now be achieved in minutes! Transition to DCS Process Headcount reduced Immediate return to high service level performance