meet our 2015 1to1 media customer champions!

1

1 WWW.1TO1MEDIA.COM/2014CHAMPS ©2014 1to1 Media. All rights protected and reserved. 1to1 Media is a division of Peppers & Rogers Group.

1to1 Media

CELEBRATING 10 YE ARS 2004-2014

MEET OUR

CUSTOMER CHAMPIONS

Take a look inside to find out who holds the key to customer success

2015

1to1 Media


You make superior customer experience look easy, and TeleTech knows the significance of that achievement. Leaders like you use a holistic and creative approach to establish a vision, enable continuous

improvements across the enterprise, and put your employees on the path to customer centricity.

We congratulate Hal Hawkins, of Verizon; and Mark Nolan, of T-Mobile for being named 2015 Customer Champions. Your leadership inspires us and your results motive us.

We look forward to your future successes.

WWW.1TO1MEDIA.COM/2015CHAMPS 3

Stephen R. Covey said, “Most people do not listen with the intent to understand; they listen with the intent to reply.” The 2015 1to1 Media Customer Champions are doing the former and proving that listening to understand leads to big results.

Take, for instance, Seth Hall. As the senior vice president of customer service at Philadelphia Insurance Companies, he’s considered to be one of the main drivers behind the company now actively listening to its customers with purpose. Seth also takes the time to call customers directly to find out about their experiences with Philadelphia Insurance and encourages the company’s executive management team to do the same.

At Safelite AutoGlass, Renee Cacchillo, senior vice president of customer brand and strategy, created a new service assistance tool by listening to employees. After finding out that a technician enlisted a friend who knows sign language to communicate to a deaf customer the extent of his repairs, Cacchillo and her team then developed official company videos in American Sign Language and Spanish, which are available to all technicians to assist hearing-impaired customers.

Finally, by listening to customer feedback, Meghan Curran, senior vice president of marketing and sales at Shedd Aquarium, made a few tweaks to the program schedule which resolved seniors’ complaints thereby increasing the number of visitors. Senior visitors indicated they didn’t want to visit the aquarium while noisy groups were also in attendance. In response, Curran championed a new Senior Days program in September on Wednesdays, the quietest day of the week. Over the course of five Wednesdays, Shedd welcomed 1,500 seniors.

It’s easy to mistake listening as a simple, passive task, but it requires more than just the ability to absorb information from someone else. Listening is a process, and an active one that requires entire organizations to participate. The 2015 1to1 Media Customer Champions are proof that listening requires commitment, but ultimately is the key ingredient of creating memorable customer experiences and moving customer strategy forward.

— Mila D’Antonio

Listening Is the Key Ingredient to Successful Customer Experiences

Mila D’AntonioEditor-in-Chief, 1to1 Media

Follow me: @miladantonio, connect with me on linkedin/miladantonio, or share your ideas via email at [email protected]

Mikayil HajiyevDigital Marketing Manager, Nar (Azerfon)

CHAMPION IN ACTIONAfter noticing that the company’s social media specialist was overwhelmed by a rise in social media traffic, Mikayil combined its social media communications with the customer relations department, and significantly reduced the wait times.

Why is he a Customer Champion? Having only joined the company last year, Mikayil quickly addressed an issue that was leading to delayed response times through the company’s social media channel and positioned the customer services department to better manage inquires.

The Forward ThinkerAs a digital marketing manager at Nar, a subsidiary of Azerfon, a mobile telecommunications company located in Azerbaijan, Mikayil Hajiyev keeps a close watch on developing trends that impact the customer experience across social media and the Web. He also identifies opportunities to help employees provide customers with optimal experiences.

For instance, Hajiyev noticed an increase in customers reaching out through social media (the company has accounts on Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Instagram, and YouTube) but the company only had one representative managing its social media accounts. A communication bottleneck was quickly growing as a result.

The social media specialist “was trying to respond as quickly as possible, but she can only work so many hours, and for complicated issues, she would have to wait for a response from someone in the back office which slowed things down even more,” Hajiyev notes. “We clearly needed a solution.”

Hajiyev resolved the issue by combining Nar’s social customer care efforts with its customer relations department. Five contact center agents are now managing the company’s social channels, which greatly reduced the response time. A more even distribution of tasks also allows the social media specialist to focus on other factors that affect the customer experience such as overseeing response and solution times, making sure that the information that’s being shared is accurate, and being a point person for issues that customer relations agents can’t solve.

Additionally, integrating the company’s digital communications with its customer service department adds variety to the agents’ tasks and helps them stay more engaged with their work.

Hajiyev also spearheaded the launch of a website that provides roaming information such as country data and prices. He also came up with the idea of aggregating information about mobile carrier services in Azerbaijan, making it easier for travelers to compare prices and plans

Acknowledging that digital communications will continue to grow, Hajiyev further streamlined the company’s customer service by redirecting email queries into the same platform as its social communications. As a result, agents have a central platform through which they can receive and respond to digital queries. — Judith Aquino

BIG RESULTS Integrating the company’s social media channel with its customer relations department had a significant effect on the customer experience. The average response time decreased from 38 hours to as low as 21 minutes, making Nar “the only mobile carrier providing complete customer social care in Azerbaijan,” Mikayil claims.

Mark NolanSenior Director, Service Partner Management, T-Mobile

CHAMPION IN ACTIONMark is leading a company-wide initiative that focuses on customer centricity. The program is designed to educate all levels of staff on scenarios and situations in which it’s appropriate to buck standard policies and procedures to provide a better customer experience.

Why is he a Customer Champion? Mark empowers employees to treat customers as individuals by promoting a culture of excellence and ownership.

The Innovator It’s easy for customer service departments to over-rely on scripts and guidelines and miss opportunities to earn the loyalty of a customer with a personalized approach. Mark Nolan recognized this tendency after working for more than 20 years in contact center and customer service organizations.

As senior director of service partner management at T-Mobile, Nolan challenged his colleagues to do better. Nolan is spearheading a T-Mobile-wide initiative, ‘Finding the Yes,’ that is centered on customer centricity. The program is educating all levels of staff from front-liners to executives on specific scenarios and situations in which standard policy and procedures can be broken in order to better help the customer.

A key part of this program is not to discipline front-liners when they take an extreme customer-centric approach, even if it involves giving customers significant credits and other actions which may be perceived as overly generous. Each “un-carrier” customer situation is evaluated and coached independently, Nolan explains.

“We want to help our representatives ‘find the yes’ in a responsible way,” he says. “And so we teach folks to consider the reason and circumstance of each situation and decide what makes sense?”

Nolan also leads a key employee engagement group called “T-Voice” for front-line agents. This initiative focuses on the front-line employee experience and targets areas in which employees need assistance in better understanding or navigating T-Mobile offerings. The initiative’s purpose is to ensure that front-line team members have the knowledge, tools, and empowerment to effectively tackle and resolve customer concerns. Employees are also encouraged to speak up about issues that they observe from their perspective as front-line agents and share ideas for further improving the customer experience. — Judith Aquino

BIG RESULTS Mark’s efforts to instill a customer-centric approach in the company has contributed to significant business impact. During his leadership over the past two years, T-Mobile’s customer satisfaction score has risen from 4.3 to 5.28 on a six-point scale, and its interval one-call resolution improved from 28 percent to 22 percent.

Additionally, T-Mobile is the only U.S. carrier with substantial net-new subscribers. The company added 8 million net new subscribers last year alone and expects the trend to continue throughout 2015. T-Mobile Care is also the winner of the J.D. Power industry award 11 times out of the past 14 measurement periods.


Hal HawkinsDirector, Global Support Operations Call Centers, Verizon

CHAMPION IN ACTIONDespite all the years Hal Hawkins has spent in the industry, he believes the keys to success when delivering customer experience can be found in the clichéd pearls of wisdom his late grandmother used to bestow upon him: good manners cost nothing; treat others how you would want to be treated; and do it right the first time. Hal has worked tirelessly to bring these values to life and ensure Verizon’s “process simplification” promptly connects customers with individual associates best equipped to resolve their issues by eliminating unnecessary transfers, holding statements, and callback recommendations, ultimately improving first call resolution (FCR) as a result.

Why is he a Customer Champion? Hal empowers employees to solve problems by providing them with the tools and resources necessary to satisfy customer needs and deliver customer experience with empathy and efficiency.

The Tech Support SimplifierWhen Verizon split Operational Responsibility between sales/service and tech support in March 2015, Hawkins immediately turned his attention toward “process simplification” within the contact center. Hawkins wanted to dive into the minutia that generated less than ideal customer experiences and eliminate any nonsensical processes that led to customer dissatisfaction.

For instance, when new high-speed Internet (HSI) customers performing self-installs called to check on the status of their service, tech support representatives would reference their process guides, which prompted them to tell the customer that work was still being performed on their order. If service was not up and running by 9 p.m., they were urged to call back. Such roadblocks often hindered satisfaction and retention. To eliminate this obstacle, Hawkins removed such messaging immediately and provided contact center associates with a revised process that allowed them to work on issues they could resolve, and commit to a scheduled callback for issues that were anomalies or needed additional time to fix. Hawkins also trained a specialized group to take action on unusual situations and follow up with the customer, thereby alleviating customer wait times.

His team’s approach to quality assurance, business change, and performance management. “Quality assurance call observations are now focused on the entire customer experience, with ‘checkbox’ and scored QA observation forms becoming a thing of the past,” Hawkins explains. “Every process [Verizon’s] call centers use is viewed through the customers’ eyes for effectiveness and effort. Performance management techniques are now much more balanced. Historically, the routines were almost exclusively compliance-based—Did the representative do what she was supposed to do?—whereas today the overarching focus now is resolution-based—Did the representative fix the customer’s issue?”

Hawkins’ dedication to improving the customer experience and his desire to solve customer issues proficiently upon first contact ultimately led to the removal of unnecessary transfers, holding statements, and callback recommendations. Instead, Verizon now focuses on finding the correct individual within the company, or its strategic partners, who’s equipped to resolve the given customer’s issue right away. Hawkins guarantees that his employees have all the tools and resources necessary, so they may bypass antiquated or illogical processes and focus on the issue at hand. Eliminating the stress associated with informing the customer they need to be transferred or to call back later inevitably produces a happier, more confident support organization. — Anna Papachristos

BIG RESULTS By reducing the hurdles between first outreach and problem resolution, Hal and his team have been able to boost CSAT scores, drive loyalty, reduce churn, and create positive word-of-mouth. Over the past four years, Verizon improved FCR within the tech support call center enterprise by 10 percent. For support organizations of this size, even a 1 percent uptick can result in thousands of fewer calls, reducing volumes and support costs as a result. Hal, however, has helped create a new dynamic by balancing quality and cost, or first call resolutions and average handle time, as the case may be, thereby giving contact center associates the freedom to take the right amount of time to resolve an individual customer’s issue, creating the resolution culture Hawkins always envisioned.

©2015 1to1 Media. All rights protected and reserved. 1to1 Media is a division of Peppers & Rogers Group. 6 WWW.1TO1MEDIA.COM/2014CHAMPS

Terry CainVice President, Global Customer Engagement, Avnet, Inc.

CHAMPION IN ACTIONTerry adopted an enterprisewide customer service and experience strategy to maintain this focus on ‘putting customers first’ as Avnet integrates newly acquired customers He and his team implemented an annual customer survey as part of their effort to build a consistent CX program. In 2015, Avnet surveyed more than 100,000 customers, resulting in the creation of Avnet’s double-closed loop model, which allows Avnet to fix short-term problems and perform analyses for more permanent initiatives simultaneously.

Why is he a Customer Champion? Terry created an internal culture dedicated to improving the customer experience by making sure all employees understand why CX matters and how their roles impact customer engagement and relationships.

The Employee Advocate Terry Cain firmly believes that solely gathering data doesn’t demonstrate genuine customer care. Companies must act upon this feedback and establish a culture that encourages all employees to put the customer first if they’re to truly cultivate loyalty and bring about change. To guarantee all employees followed this customer-centric mindset, Cain launched Avnet’s ‘Journey to Customer Centricity’ workshops.

Through these workshops, all employees learn and appreciate Avnet’s new CX model and goals, with 5,000 employees having completed this training thus far. Cain takes the time to meet all attendees before the workshops to make them feel comfortable and earn their attention prior to each presentation. Afterward, Cain sends personal thank-you cards to each new hire and attendee, ultimately leading by example and demonstrating the traits all employees should try to emulate in their everyday interactions with the customer.

“We had the opportunity to have real conversations about how we can get to the next level of customer experience maturity,” Cain describes. “We had fun and were passionate together dreaming about the possibilities of becoming customer centric, and we were inspired looking at the barriers we’d like to overcome. Ultimately we told stories that reminded us that, even now, in the midst of a technical and social revolution, Avnet makes the world of technology a better place to live, work, and play. Our customers are not just a transaction to process. Avnet recognizes that our customers are the only reason for our business, and that our employees are the means to serve our customers.”

These workshops, as well as frontline data access, have saved several key accounts, for employees have the foresight to spot client issues earlier and react quickly to minimize impact. Visibility into this data has been critical in the preservation of pivotal accounts. Cain notes that the flow of information is an output of Avnet’s CX focus, and such rapid reactions are worn as an employee badge of honor, as nothing takes priority over making sure clients are happy. — Anna Papachristos

BIG RESULTS While Avnet’s enterprisewide CX program may only be in its early stages, Terry and his team have already established NPS as the global KPI for customer engagement, which saw an uptick of four points over the past year. Avnet also now manages all surveys on one single platform, which enables the team to deliver NPS-based relationships surveys to approximately 100,000 customers per year. Internally, Terry led his team to create customer-centric workshops, which have been attended by 5,000 employees and counting.


DeLania K. TrulyVice President, Sales, Central Region, CUNA Mutual Group

CHAMPION IN ACTIONDeLania K. Truly revamped the Culture Survey to better understand the drivers behind employee engagement and how employee-related issues impact the customer experience. In response, DeLania and her team created the Bright Ideas – Roadblocks section of the CUNA Intranet, which provides employees with a simple way to communicate with her and the customer experience team directly. Such access allows employees to report CX issues or identify opportunities to enhance CX in the future.

Why is she a Customer Champion? Since assuming responsibility for customer centricity at CUNA Mutual Group, DeLania has become the face of customer experience, guiding everyone from the Board of Directors to frontline employees to adopt the same customer-first mentality.

The CX EvangelistBeing a customer evangelist is an important role at CUNA Mutual Group, and one that

DeLania K. Truly, vice president, sales, Central Region, takes seriously. In fact everyone

within the CUNA Mutual Group family recognizes Truly as the leading expert on the

customer because she regularly evangelizes on behalf of the customer experience at each

level within the B2B organization.

Truly leads the company’s Customer Experience Task Force in an effort to better understand customer needs. She

recognizes that it’s important to solve the customer’s rational and emotional needs simultaneously to create long-

term satisfaction and customer loyalty.

“Customer experience is an absolute passion for me, but I am not alone,” Truly explains. “We have so many other

CX passionate people in our organization, starting with our senior leaders and building throughout our frontline

teams who work closest to our customers. Providing a strong customer experience is table stakes for doing

business and growing relationships over a lifetime.”

To reinforce this initiative, Truly helped restructure how the company shares customer feedback with its sales team

to cut the amount of time between receiving and responding to the incoming data. Originally, sales executives

received customer feedback three or more weeks after the insight had been submitted. Now, executives receive

feedback in less than 48 hours after submission so they can follow up immediately. Easier access to customer

data and timely response rates support Truly’s customer-centric mindset by putting others’ needs ahead of the

company’s needs. — Anna Papachristos

BIG RESULTS During her time with CUNA Mutual Group thus far, DeLania has led the creation of an entire series of customer experience modules focused on: why the customer experience is important; understanding the difference between being a vendor and being a partner; opportunities to drive loyalty through the customer experience; and looking through the customer lens. These modules have already been rolled out across CUNA Mutual’s sales and marketing departments, with more soon to follow, thereby creating a consistent CX foundation across the entire company. For example, sales executives can now access customer data within 48 hours of submission, down from three or more weeks initially.


Sean RiversDirector of Operations Technology, Republic Wireless, a division of Bandwidth

CHAMPION IN ACTIONSean Rivers’ strategic vision enables every member of the Republic Wireless family communicate with and troubleshoot for customers and prospects without separating the customer from basic human interaction. Rivers actively defines the tools, processes, and policies that make customers happy and, for the last four years, has achieved this level of success without one single contact center agent waiting by the phone. Effective CX programs typically have their own support center, but Sean’s initiative creatively employs technology, allowing the company to maintain its industry-leading 4,000:1 customer to agent ratio, while staffing for 24/7 support.

Why is he a Customer Champion? Sean employs technology to enhance human interaction, not replace it, thereby empowering customers and employees to help one another resolve problems and establish relationships that expand upon the traditional approach to customer service.

The People PersonSean Rivers, director of Operations Technology at Republic Wireless, knows that when customers have to wait they aren’t happy. He also understands the value of insights produced from the wisdom of the crowds, so he’s putting peer-to-peer communities to work to help solve customers’ issues.

Under Rivers’ guidance, Republic Wireless now offers a community that empowers customers to help other customers by answering each other’s questions. His philosophy focuses on four key areas: 1)

Be where the customers are quickly and with authority; 2) offer comfort, provide wisdom, and make decisions; 3) measure everything and benchmark often; and all decisions big or small should be tracked for effect.

This philosophy serves as the foundation for his customer community. By submitting their queries to the community, customers receive and answer or response from designated knowledgeable customers within 10 minutes. The platform facilitates Q&As, discussions around service announcements, idea management with direct interaction from the product team, and new feature labs. The community also enables customer-to-customer ticketing, which taps Expert Customers to answer 30 percent of incoming queries, thereby freeing up service agents to work on more pressing cases.

“Customer experience is the amalgamation of every experience the customer has during the lifetime of their service,” Rivers emphasizes. “In support, we are only part of the overall experience. Since the customer experience rarely starts at neutral, we have to make the most out of every opportunity to put our best foot forward.”

While Rivers stands firm in his support of human interaction, he also recognizes that certain tools help accelerate the process, boosting customer satisfaction and loyalty in the process. Machine Learning helps the internal triage team read and coordinate every request so they can adequately prioritize the influx of tickets and make suggestions as to which tickets might benefit from an Expert Customer’s insight. Also, agents aren’t chained to their office or desk, resulting in higher engagement and retention, for these employees have the opportunity to interact with and get to know customers better, creating the foundation necessary for long-term customer loyalty and retention. — Anna Papachristos

BIG RESULTS Sean focuses on the negative to increase the positive. Prior to taking over the direction of support tools, Republic Wireless had an average CSAT of 65 percent. To boost happiness and satisfaction, Rivers sought to get more people involved so the company could improve its response time on lower priority questions and issues. By incorporating crowdsourcing techniques, Republic Wireless has been able to reduce response times from 24 hours to less than three minutes for about 30 percent of all tickets, thereby achieving a 5 percent rise in CSAT. Overall, Republic Wireless now averages 86 percent CSAT across all tickets and 90 percent for those handled by Expert Customers.


Renee CacchilloSenior Vice President of Customer, Brand & Technology, Safelite AutoGlass

CHAMPION IN ACTIONAfter learning a technician enlisted a friend to record a video using sign language to explain repairs to a deaf customer, Renee developed official company videos in American Sign Language and Spanish. These are available today to all technicians through their company-provided smartphone.

Why is she a Customer Champion? Renee has spearheaded customer-driven improvements across the company from customer services and marketing to IT and workforce management.

The High AchieverAs the Senior Vice President of Customer, Brand and Technology at Safelite AutoGlass, Renee Cacchillo approaches every opportunity with passion, vision and a burning desire to make lasting improvements. It’s no wonder then that the customer-centric approach that she introduced when joining the company in 2011 has taken hold throughout the entire organization.

For the past several years, Cacchillo has led a cross-functional team in envisioning the customer of the future. Improvements included managing the customer recovery department and having technicians available for appointments when and where the customers need help.

Such advancements have allowed Cacchillo to continue to grow in her role. This year she began a new journey: To help spearhead the IT team while continuing to lead customer experience and marketing. Working with the IT team was a logical addition to Cacchillo’s responsibilities because Safelight’s technology team had access to reams of data that could help the company evolve at a faster pace to meet the needs of the customer.

“We had been collecting a lot of data from NPS surveys that we weren’t mining,” Cacchillo explains. “For me, this brought on the question, what do people not like [about Safelite’s customer experience?] and what I found were many comments about what could be improved, like our website.”

In her current role, Cacchillo has led improvements to the company’s website based on customer feedback. They included making the site accessible across devices from a PC to smartphone or tablet; reducing the number of steps to schedule an appointment or obtain a price quote, and adding more visual tools like videos and images that help customers enter the right information about their vehicle. It has also led to several automated customer experience enhancements like “On-My-Way” text alerts that are sent to customers prior to appointments.

Cacchillo has also recently implemented a workforce management system called FlexForce through a partnership with Kronos that helps managers create efficient labor schedules and streamline operations. This impacts the customer experience by helping technicians better manage their schedules and show up for appointments on time. — Judith Aquino

BIG RESULTS As a result of simplifying the online scheduling process, Safelite saw a 12 percent increase in the number of consumers who scheduled appointments compared to last year. Additionally, online requests for quotes went up 66 percent and the company’s Net Promoter Score increased three points this year, which the company attributes to the improvements it made to its customer experience.

For other companies that want to improve their customer experience, it’s important to listen to customer complaints—as well as compliments, Renee says. “Make sure you’re also listening to what you do well, because you don’t want to accidentally change something and cause harm,” she advises. “Don’t change just for change’s sake.”



Timucin GulerAssistant General Manager, Marketing and Communications, Opet

CHAMPION IN ACTIONTimucin introduced a system for collecting customer feedback that streamlines communication between the company’s call center and its gas stations to allow agents to alert managers of customer service issues before they escalate.

Why is he a Customer Champion? Timucin introduced initiatives and campaigns that enabled the company to take a proactive approach to improving the customer experience and make customer-centricity a brand differentiator.

The Problem SolverWhen Timucin Guler joined Opet, an oil and fuel company based in Turkey, the company faced a number of customer experience headwinds: Opet did not have a centralized customer engagement strategy, nor did it have a system for collecting and acting on data insights, and its call center services were disconnected from the rest of the company.

By introducing customer loyalty strategies combined with innovative engagement tactics, Guler helped transform Opet into a data-driven, customer-centric company. For instance, Guler introduced the “Excellent Service Program” to keep track of customer satisfaction levels and give customers an opportunity to provide feedback.

Under the Excellent Service Program, after an Opet Card or Opet WorldCard holder completes a transaction at one of the company’s gas stations, the cardholder is contacted through an outbound call or text to determine whether or not he was satisfied with the service. If the customer gives a negative response, the Opet Call Center follows up with that person to learn more about the unsatisfactory experience. Information from the call is then shared with the station manager and with upper management to resolve the issue as quickly as possible.

Guler has also spearheaded partnerships with other companies to extend the benefits of being an Opet customer. Some of the campaigns he introduced include an opportunity to earn air miles through a partnership with Turkish Airlines, as well as points that can be applied to discounts at Arcelik, a household appliances manufacturer, among other partnerships. — Judith Aquino

BIG RESULTS Timucin’s efforts to streamline the company’s operations and make them more customer-focused has yielded significant results. Opet attributes part of its success as the second-largest company in Turkey’s fuel sector with 936 gas stations and an 18 percent market share to its focus on the customer. Additionally, for the past nine years, Opet has earned the highest customer satisfaction index score in its sector in an annual survey conducted by Turkey Quality Association and the University of Michigan.

Urmas KarnerManaging Director, The Somerset on Grace Bay

CHAMPION IN ACTIONOn February 9, 2014, the 50th anniversary of when The Beatles played on The Ed Sullivan Show, the electricity went out across Turks & Caicos. Urmas, an avid Beatles fan, brought his guitar onto the resort’s croquet lawn that was lit by tiki torches and sang Beatles songs with the guests deep into the night.

Why is he a Customer Champion? Urmas interacts with customers continually during their stay at the Turks & Caicos resort, recognizing and rewarding employees’ customer-centric actions, which results in a memorable guest experience.

The Crowd PleaserUrmas Karner, managing director of The Somerset on Grace Bay, who has been working at the resort for the past two-and-a-half years, knows from his previous experiences in working for large hotels in Manhattan as well as large golf course management companies that big operations can become impersonal and by-the-numbers.

Recognizing that the hospitality industry thrives on the person-to-person experience, Karner walks the grounds of The Somerset multiple times each day to interact with guests. As a smaller resort, The Somerset strives to distinguish itself by the personal and memorable experiences provided to its guests, and Karner is right in the thick of it.

Karner dresses up for Halloween each year to greet guests and their children. He has played Santa Claus each Christmas that he’s been with the resort. He hands out roses to guests and staff every Valentine’s Day and Mother’s Day. He truly enjoys seeing and making customers happy.

Karner endeavors to remember the names of each guest that visits the resort and he also hosts a weekly cocktail reception. In fact, Karner is the inventor of the resort’s signature drink – The Somerset Sunset – which is a blend of rum, cantaloupe juice, and a few other secret ingredients. Karner also goes out of his way to recognize individual staff for taking special care of The Somerset’s guests. He understands how important the staff’s contribution is to the guest experience and how employees appreciate being recognized for their efforts. In addition to serving as a terrific role model, Karner stays engaged with his staff by playing on the resort’s volleyball team, inspiring a competitive team spirit among various departments of the resort’s hospitality team. — Tom Hoffman

BIG RESULTS When Urmas first joined The Somerset, the resort was ranked #29 on TripAdvisor among Turks & Caicos hotels. Now, The Somerset is ranked 13th, ahead of some world-renowned resort brands, even though The Somerset is a single, standalone boutique property. The resort’s focus on delivering memorable customer experiences helps explain the dramatic increases in occupancy rates (up 70 percent) and revenue (up 90 percent) over the past two years.



Why is she a Customer Champion? Carolyn forged long-term relationships between customers, partners, and EMC, producing better outcomes for everyone.

Defender of DataWhen Carolyn Muise started at EMC, data was an afterthought. Data teams operated in silos, there were no standard naming conventions, no cataloging process, and no governance board to ensure the protection of customer data.

Muise, the vice president of Total Customer Experience at the Big Data company, changed all of that. As a certified Lean Six Sigma Black Belt, she knows how to get results. She realizes that the transition

and management of diverse customer data sets is the most effective way to acquire customers. This is why she spearheaded EMC’s Big Data Lake—a master data management initiative to improve data integrity, quality, and provide a central platform for overall data governance. In fact, her leadership around master data management is one of her biggest successes. “Our Business Data Lake and Master Data Management strategy allows EMC teams to proactively drive continuous improvement in solutions and services that are relevant, customized, and add value to our customers,” she says.

Under her direction, EMC’s cross-functional teams have pooled hundreds of data sets and data sources into a central repository (“Big Data Lake”) and applied standard naming conventions, consistent cataloguing processes and established a governance board to ensure that customer data is both protected and accessible so employees can take proactive action to best serve customers. The Data Lake allows field teams to make faster and more informed decisions, which drives better account alignment and customer satisfaction.

She’s also encouraged EMC’s Customer Service team to implement a predictive service model, which empowers 300+ front-line service managers to proactively follow up with potentially dissatisfied customers and has resulted in 80 percent of managers reporting at least one customer or business benefit and a 153 percent increase in customer satisfaction.

Although EMC’s customer satisfaction increases can largely be attributed to Muise’s focus on data and her efforts to integrate the organization, she credits her team as the driver of the company’s success. “At EMC, I am fortunate to have 66,000 team members. Each one of these team members impacts the customer experience,” she says. “It is this team that is truly the driver behind the success of TCE Program and our world-class customer experience.” — Mila D’Antonio

BIG RESULTS Since taking on her role as leader of EMC’s TCE program, Carolyn has contributed to significant business impact: An NPS increase of 86 percent since 2013, record-breaking and industry-leading customer satisfaction scores, implementation of a company-wide standard to tie executive compensation to NPS metrics, and $80 million in cost savings as a result of TCE-led operational efficiency efforts between 2013 and 2014. Her efforts have also resulted in 80 percent of managers reporting at least one customer or business benefit and a 153 percent increase in customer satisfaction.

Carolyn MuiseVice President, Total Customer Experience, EMC Corporation

CHAMPION IN ACTIONIn 2014, Carolyn spearheaded a company-wide “TCE Day” celebration to recognize EMC’s customer-centric culture and thank employees for their work. In its first year, the event achieved remarkable success: 4,000 customer and employee attendees at 13 celebrations in seven countries, 100,000 social media views and active engagement from EMC leaders across the company, including CEO David Goulden.

Meghan CurranSenior Vice President, Marketing, Guest Experience and Sales, Shedd Aquarium

CHAMPION IN ACTIONGuest insights revealed that senior visitors can be challenged by high noise levels and crowds. Meghan championed a new Senior Days program on Wednesdays in September—traditionally the quietest day of the week and quietest month of the year—to help make visits by seniors more pleasurable without the cacophony of hundreds of school children on field trips. Over the course of five Wednesdays in September, the aquarium welcomed 1,500 seniors.

Why is she a Customer Champion? Meghan Curran is continually focused on improving all aspects of the guest experience at Shedd Aquarium, including on site, online, and through each of the touchpoints that visitors use. She strives to understand the needs and interests of the aquarium’s guests, overseeing its audience research and evaluation team to apply visitor feedback that’s then used to help increase customer engagement and satisfaction.

The Customer CuratorMeghan Curran, senior vice president, Marketing, Guest Experience and Sales, Shedd Aquarium and her team of 175 staffers are responsible for cultivating relationships with Shedd’s close to 2 million annual visitors, maintaining its status as one of the top-attended aquariums in the U.S. and a cultural icon in Chicago. Since joining Shedd Aquarium 15 years ago, Curran has worked tirelessly to help Shedd’s staff better understand and act on the needs and interests of its guests.

Curran was the driving force in the creation of Shedd’s in-house marketing agency which has built out Shedd’s brand while ensuring that guest insights are infused throughout strategic planning. These measures have ensured delivery of more meaningful guest-centric experiences.

For instance, Shedd Aquarium houses what it claims is the oldest fish in any aquarium in the world, an Australian lungfish named Granddad that joined the aquarium just in time for Chicago’s 1933 World’s Fair. Since Granddad is brown/gray and doesn’t move a lot, many guests might otherwise pass him by or mistake him for a log. But Curran and her team have brought attention to the world’s oldest known aquarium fish, helping to further distinguish the guest experience at Shedd.

Curran has also made it much easier for guests to plan a visit. For instance, in the past, guests who wanted to make advance ticket purchases online were redirected to an online ticket agency where the web experience was difficult to navigate and they were assessed an additional service fee. Shedd has since brought online ticket purchasing to its own website and has simplified the customer journey while offering online discounts. — Tom Hoffman

BIG RESULTS Under Meghan’s direction, Shedd’s customer engagement efforts have made a sizable splash on business performance. Since online ticket purchasing was redesigned, Shedd has more than doubled advanced sales and expects to beat its highest revenue year by more than $1 million in 2015. Guest satisfaction has also soared. Shedd Aquarium’s Net Promoter Score has increased nearly every month for the past 15 months running.


PMS 294

PMS 3125

cmyk values

c = 82

m = 4

y = 20

k = 0

cmyk values

c = 93

m = 66

y = 16

k = 5

PMS 294

PMS 3125

cmyk values

c = 82

m = 4

y = 20

k = 0

cmyk values

c = 93

m = 66

y = 16

k = 5

BIG RESULTS Over the past six years, Hall has proven invaluable throughout Philadelphia Insurance Companies’ pursuit of improved CX. For instance, the organization’s revenue retention rate rose to 93 percent in 2014, while the account retention rate grew to 90.8 percent. Overall customer service satisfaction scores also rose to 94.6 percent in 2014, as the company hired 33 new account executives and collected more than 50,000 customer survey responses. Between 2010 and 2013, the firm also saw its NPS rise from 52.7 to 55.3. As of 2015, the company’s NPS now resides at 57.2

Seth HallSenior Vice President, Customer Service, Philadelphia Insurance Companies

CHAMPION IN ACTIONSeth often takes the time to call customers directly to learn about their experiences with the company, encouraging his executive management team to do the same in an effort to make listening everyone’s top priority. Seth’s customer-centric spirit has trickled all the way down to frontline employees, as well, for many now take the time to send handwritten thank-you notes to their customers because they, too, feel strongly about creating solid, personal connections. Employees now send notes at such high volumes that these cards are on backorder with the supplier. Customers have been so touched by gestures that they’ve begun sending their own handwritten notes in return.

Why is he a Customer Champion? Seth employee to extend their reach beyond the traditional bounds of customer experience, which makes each interaction more personal than the last.

The Eager Listener Since joining Philadelphia Insurance Companies in 2009, Seth Hall, senior vice

president of customer service at Philadelphia Insurance Companies, has spent his time

transforming the organization’s customer experience program. Hall quickly noticed that

customers and prospects had many questions and concerns because of the recession,

so he enacted an initiative designed to ensure customer feedback results in meaningful

change. Hall recognized that data cannot serve its purpose unless the team pays attention and takes action,

closing the loop between company and customer.

“We have made tactical and strategic decisions based off of the feedback we have received directly from

our customers,” Hall explains. “In addition, we have put in place very robust and comprehensive action

management processes whereby we are responding and reacting to surveys within the same day. We are

responding to let them know we received their feedback and we are working to determine the appropriate next

steps. On many occasions, simply making that call and letting them know we heard them and are taking action

is enough to make them believers in our commitment to service.”

Through annual NPS surveys, transactional contact center surveys, and formalized CX strategies, Hall and

his team learned that, while customers value Philadelphia’s live chat capabilities, many couldn’t find the chat

button on the website. The company immediately changed its location on the site, thereby increasing chats by

10 percent and reducing call volume. The team also recognized that billing issues accounted for 33 percent of

customer complaints. In response, Philadelphia introduced a more efficient billing system so that agents could

more effectively manage and assist policyholders. — Anna Papachristos


Urvashi ShethSenior Director, Global Customer Care, SanDisk

CHAMPION IN ACTIONUntil September 2014, submission of warranty replacement requests online wasn’t available for U.S. customers, and survey feedback indicated the company needed to improve its turnaround time for warranty replacement. Convinced that SanDisk customers will benefit immensely from a new and easy process, Urvashi submitted her case to SVP of the retail division with risk mitigation strategy. That same month, an online warranty replacement process was implemented for U.S. customers.

Why is she a Customer Champion? Urvashi listens to customer interactions on a daily basis, reviews customer survey feedback, and makes appropriate adjustments in real time.

The Intent ListenerUrvashi Sheth, senior director at SanDisk, says she continuously aims to make meaningful improvements and create an environment of trust for the company’s customers.

In achieving this, she says it’s most important to listen to the interactions between the company’s customer care centers and customers. “This provides me with information about where the gaps are in our processes, about what makes our customer comfortable interacting with us, and about what

their immediate needs and concerns are in regards to our products and services,” she says. “I can then use such knowledge to enhance the customer experience.”

And she does.

Part of Sheth’s daily routine is to listen to customers and communicate their needs, ideas, and feedback received at all levels of her organization. A good example of this routine is her weekly meetings with call center managers, supervisors, and Quality Assurance agents where she discusses problems, new ideas, processes, and improvements and then communicates their ideas to executives, team members, and other departments like Product Marketing and Engineering. This loop of continuous communication and improvement has resulted in a very high customer satisfaction rate of 93 percent and above worldwide. The team under her leadership has also won Gold in the 2014 Gartner and1to1Media Customer Experience Excellence Awards.

“I give customers the confidence that they are being heard continuously by implementing various services and innovative solutions based on their feedback,” she says. “This in turn creates a relationship based on trust, which is one of the most important factors in fostering long-term relationships with customers.”

One of the biggest cultural changes she has made during her tenure at SanDisk is empowering agents to resolve customer issues instead of escalating to the next level. This has created a culture of creativity and autonomy and agents have gained a sense of pride and job satisfaction. — Mila D’Antonio

BIG RESULTS SanDisk Global Customer Care operates 50 depots in China and India and is in the process of launching in Brazil. The result of this undertaking to the business is immense:

• Customer satisfaction at these depots is up to 97 percent.

• YOY sales in these countries continue to increase by 5 percent over the past three years creating, huge customer loyalty.

• The high rate of agent engagement has kept agent attrition rate at SanDisk contact centers at 5 percent this year compared to 13 to15 percent in the industry.

• With the ability to make immediate decisions, agents are able to provide quick resolution to customers which has increased first-call resolution rate by 12 percent.


Joseph Agresta, Jr.President, Benzel-Busch Motor Car Corp

CHAMPION IN ACTIONJoseph gave the company’s service agents and salespeople tablets so that they can quickly assist customers wherever they are, leading to a more convenient and efficient customer experience.

Why is he a Customer Champion? Joseph has given his employees the tools and resources they need to better meet the demands of today’s customers.

The Digital GroundbreakerIn the highly competitive world of automotive dealerships, Joseph Agresta Jr., president of Benzel-Busch Motor Car Corp, understands that the customer experience is critical. He also knows that convenience and efficiency are important factors and so he spearheaded technological improvements that allow the dealership to come to the customer.

For instance, Agresta equipped his employees with tablets so that they can conduct the greeting and vehicle walk-around at service points and complete paperwork while the customer remains in the car. He also eliminated cashiers and equipped his staff to process payments anywhere in the dealership. Finally, he equipped every corner of the business with Wi-Fi to enable his team to be mobile and flexible and to optimize the experience for customers. For example, if a customer wishes to conduct business in the cafe or the lounge, it can be done.

“Typically in a dealership you move the customer from place to place,” Agresta explains. “At our dealership we have rebuilt the entire facility to bring the business to the customer.”

Additionally, Agresta believes that engaged employees deliver a higher level of service. But with 350 employees, and soon approaching 400 after the company opens a third dealership next year, it can be difficult for employees to feel connected. Therefore, Agresta emphasizes the importance of team-building activities amongst managers and their employees. The company regularly hosts dinners and lunches, as well as quick meetings, to give employees an opportunity to connect with each other and provide feedback.

“We started as a family business and even though the company has grown a lot, we try to keep things casual and make sure it still feels like a small, close-knit business,” Agresta says. — Judith Aquino

BIG RESULTS In the automotive business it’s not unusual to have a turnover rate between 30 to 40 percent. Benzel-Busch has a turnover rate that’s below 8 percent. In fact, Benzel-Busch’s dealer retention rate rose from 21.6 percent in September last year to 22.7 percent this year. Joseph attributes this to providing his team with the tools and continuing training and development they need. This drives both high levels of employee engagement and customer service.

Additionally, customers frequently turn to the company for additional services. In September alone, 91.7 percent of Benzel-Busch’s customers received additional services, compared to the benchmark average of 60.8 percent.



David BrayCIO, Federal Communications Commission

CHAMPION IN ACTIONDavid has championed the move to cloud computing. This past Labor Day the organization successfully completed Operation Server Lift, powering down all remaining systems at FCC, retiring some legacy systems, transferring several systems to newer hardware, and physically moving all systems to a commercial service provider. There are no servers left at the FCC’s headquarters in D.C. David says the cost savings is immediate.

Why is he a Customer Champion? By acting with benevolence, competence, and integrity, David was able to gain the trust of leaders, employees, and consumers to modernize the FCC by moving to the

Champion of the CloudEarlier this year, both Forbes and The Huffington-Post ranked The Federal Communications Commission’s CIO David Bray as the most active CIO in social media, earning him the title internally as the “world’s most social CIO.”

Bray’s social status was earned in part because he believes that social media can cultivate a network of “positive change agents” both within and across organizations. “I think any public

service professional should listen and learn from the public, as well as use social media to share some of the challenges and successful efforts we’re delivering,” he says.

He says most people don’t think about the FCC until they have to—because they want to stop the robocalls, or they need help settling a dispute with an Internet carrier. That’s why Bray ensured that answers were easy to find via the FCC’s Consumer Help Center. The site, built on Zendesk and rolled out this year, represents a shift away from a 15-year-old, on-premise, legacy, consumer complaints system, and replaces 18 outdated complaints forms. It was the first FCC project rolled out under Bray’s ‘cloud-first’ initiative. Now citizens can check their statuses, modify complaints online, and get quicker resolution times. They can also view the interactions between the FCC and various providers as the complaints get resolved.

Before launching the new system, Bray had to first communicate goals throughout the FCC. He did this by establishing a communications timeline and through daily stand up and weekly meetings with the Office of the Chairmen. To encourage behavior change, incentives were offered in the form of training and demos. These were communicated in terms of value, time reduction of processing, and happier clients.

Along the way, Bray built trust by stepping in front of the flak his team would sometimes get from government and contractors. “As Peter Drucker said: ‘Culture eats strategy for breakfast.’ You can have the best strategy in the world, but if you don’t take into account the different cultures of the different organizational units, it won’t matter…. By taking a bottom-up approach, a good executive leader takes on the role of a facilitator and cultivator to provide a safe space for employees to raise questions.” — Mila D’Antonio

BIG RESULTS David’s customer-centric approach of transparency lead to business benefits, including the ability to reply to complaints via online and mobile and inform customers throughout every step of the process. The system now handles more than 400,000 complaints annually with quicker time to resolution. There are specific benefits for the FCC too: Transparency to congress on complaint data and internal reporting and transparency from an employee and policy standpoint.

David made sure employees benefited too: increased process efficiencies; reduced workload; real-time collaboration with providers/carriers, as well as the ability to telework. This project generated $2.8 million in overall savings.


1to1 Media


Connectwith1to1 Media

www.1to1media.com/2015champs