ARCHIVED - Brief Case Studies of Exemplary Practices

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Private Sector and Other Governments

AMEX Canada Inc.

American Express in Canada operates as AMEX Canada Inc. and AMEX Bank of Canada. AMEX Canada Inc. is a leading provider of travel-related services in Canada and assists companies with managing and controlling their business and travel expenses. AMEX Bank of Canada is the issuer of American Express Cards in Canada. Both are wholly-owned subsidiaries of New York-based American Express Travel Related Services Company Inc., the largest operating unit of the American Express Company, which provides a wide range of financial and travel-related services for consumers and companies.

AMEX Canada Inc. manages:

• Travel Services Group, including Corporate Card, Corporate Travel and Consumers Travel
• Travellers Cheque Group

AMEX Bank of Canada manages:

• Consumer Services Group, including all consumer careds and related services, as well as financial services products
• Establishment Services Group
• Banking and Financial Services

Main Client Groups
Each of the core businesses at AMEX Canada Inc. has clearly defined customer groups based on product and service offerings which are re-assessed annually as part of the corporate planning process and throughout the year as new products and services are launched. The core business groups are:

• Existing and potential credit card customers (managed by the Consumer Services Group)
• Existing and potential consumers who invest in guaranteed and mutual fund investments (managed by the Consumer Services Group)
• Individuals of corporations or government who use AMEX to book business or leisure trips (managed by the Travel Services Group)
• Individuals of corporations or government who use the AMEX corporate card for the business-related expenses (managed by the Travel Services Group)
• Individuals of corporations or government who use AMEX to manage and reconcile their corporate travel and entertainment expenses (managed by the Travel Services Group)
• Merchant establishments which accept AMEX cards as payment instruments - while not strictly defined as customers, they do hold a critical position in the service delivery chain to the cardholders and are treated as a customer group (managed by the Establishment Services Group)

AMEX Canada Inc. has mature quality systems in place. The organization has demonstrated solid leadership is establishing and maintaining a customer-focused strategic direction. Alignment of organizational goals is maintained through a comprehensive planning process. Strategic Quality Plans are regularly monitored with extensive communication to all employees. Leadership effectiveness is reflected in the organization's strong financial performance as well as significant improvements in key customer, process and shareholder results.

The organization clearly recognizes the importance of the customer. For example, customer satisfaction goals are developed for all employees. As well, a number of mechanisms are available to customers for complaints, assistance, inquiries or needs identification. Empowered employees quickly handle any customer requests - service level agreements are in place for key customer encounter points. Customer data is extensively collected, measured and tracked. Positive customer trends are evident. A wide array of methods is used to measure customer satisfaction as well as analyze data for improvement.

Service Standards in Use

Amex uses the NQI Framework for Business Excellence and the quality assessment tools linked to the Framework. As well, Amex pursues benchmarking with other organizations, customer satisfaction surveys, focus groups, syndicated marketing research studies on consumer/market trends. The business line responding to this survey has particular responsibility for New Customer Acquisition and Servicing (i.e. customer service, marketing offers, relationship management/risk management). Delivery of these services is divided between different service channels, specifically:

In person	5%
Phone	80%
Fax	1.67%
Mail	1.67%
Electronic Mail	1.67%
Internet	10%
Kiosk	0%

Service level agreements are in place for key customer encounter points and linked to compensation.

Each business unit at AMEX is using a service standard appropriate to their work including: Top2Box; Customer Satisfaction; AHT; TAT; ASA; Representative Knowledge, Courtesy, Accuracy; Industry Service Level; Compliance; etc.

Customer Satisfaction Surveys
There are external customer satisfaction surveys four times a year and focus groups are held twice annually. There are ongoing consultations with Business to Business customers. Marked improvements in Top2Box customer satisfaction has been noted as a result of actions taken in response to survey results. In a business line where results are flat from one study to another, action plans are developed, standards reset, benchmarking and best in class processes analyzed, and executive ownership is assigned to address the situation.

The challenges in monitoring/measuring customer satisfaction were realized in the difficulty of striking a balance between ongoing tracking and refining customer listening tools (e.g. changing questions to reflect process change and customer expectation change). As well, viewing internal performance data for external SAT data holistically presented a challenge. Mechanisms for responding to complaints or redress are used on an ongoing basis throughout the year.

Improvement in customer satisfaction is monitored based on movement on key drivers of satisfaction for a particular process and improvement in overall satisfaction on customer surveys. Internally, staff look at call monitoring and compliance scores/ratings to quantify improvement (list of attributes is long).

The internal elements that contribute most to customer satisfaction are a deep commitment to communication to all levels of the organization (from front line to executive staff), setting an improvement plan with performance targets and ongoing tracking.

Implementation of Service Standards
Being a quality and customer-focused service company, implementation of plans to measure/improve customer relationships was problem-free. The company's vision and values are customer-centred; performance evaluations and goals have customer, shareholder and employee components; incentive reward and recognition programs in place to reward above and beyond service to customers.

The results from customer service feedback was used to develop service standards. The trend data, industry benchmarks and consultation with research specialists contributed to the development of specific standards. Consultation with internal customers and stakeholders, as well as focus groups with front line staff, also contributed.

Service standards vary from one channel to another and by other customer value/behaviour segmentation. As part of a customer relationship management strategy, customers expect difference levels/types of services from Amex and each channel designs their processes to deliver against those expectations.

Amex shares best practices and improvement stories within the company in other geographical markets and externally with companies in related industries.

Exemplary Practices

• Executive ownership is assigned to every service improvement project.
• Performance is tied to improvement goals.
• Reward and Recognition program gives incentives to employees who are recognized as having given service above and beyond the standard.
• Communication is completely through the ranks from executive suite to front-line workers.
• Improvement plans are set with performance targets.
• Customers are segmented beyond business line to customer value and behaviour.

Lessons Learned

Find a balance between ongoing tracking and refining the listening tool to ensure the tool is asking the right questions.

Take an holistic approach to comparing internal performance data against external customer satisfaction data.

Contact

Karen Peart, Consultant
Amex
Telephone: 905-474-8398
Fax: 905-474-8363

 

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