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SMS Unhappy

This document discusses the SMS Unhappy program launched by State Bank of India (SBI) to improve customer satisfaction through an automated complaint management system. SMS Unhappy allows customers to lodge complaints via SMS which are then addressed by experienced bankers. The program aims to increase transparency, standardize operations, and improve customer service across SBI's large network. Key questions addressed include how the program defines and measures customer satisfaction, potential weaknesses, and implications of a national rollout.

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Mayank Saini
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1K views21 pages

SMS Unhappy

This document discusses the SMS Unhappy program launched by State Bank of India (SBI) to improve customer satisfaction through an automated complaint management system. SMS Unhappy allows customers to lodge complaints via SMS which are then addressed by experienced bankers. The program aims to increase transparency, standardize operations, and improve customer service across SBI's large network. Key questions addressed include how the program defines and measures customer satisfaction, potential weaknesses, and implications of a national rollout.

Uploaded by

Mayank Saini
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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State Bank of India:

‘SMS Unhappy’
Sumit Mitra
IIMK
Objective of case
• Highlight how a public sector bank (SBI) uses
automated complaint management tool (SMS) to
improve overall service performance and
compete private banks
• Align entire orgn. (at branch level) around
customer-centered parameters of performance
to become highly customer-centric.
– Improved branch transparency, operational
standardisation, low variance so better customer
service
Context
• Emerging Economy, large population, wide
geographical spread, rapid development-
penetration of IT, mobile
• Large, spread out public sector financial orgn
• Issues at the intersection of service marketing,
operations, consumer behavior
Question-1

• How would you define customer satisfaction


in the service industry? To what extent this
was achieved by the ‘SMS Unhappy’ program?
Answer-1
• satisfaction as an increasing function of the difference
between the performance received and prior expectations,
debate on the linearity versus non-linearity of the relationship
between satisfaction and performance.
• Customer delight
• In case of SMS Unhappy we need to look at ‘improved’ or
‘best’ customer satisfaction
Question-2
• Should the bank be worried about satisfying
all its customers or ‘delight’ only those that
matter?
– What do customers actually value about the
program? List imp
Answer-2
• SMS Unhappy may not be able to discriminate
among customers as high net worth customers.
– How can this be built into program if required?
• Criteria for selecting customers for SMS Unhappy
• Customers prefer SMS Unhappy as
– Customer follow up minimum, fully free except sms
– Complaints handled by experienced bankers with soln.
to all problems
– Response time short, direct call from call center
– Deep inside remote branches
– Nothing similar exists in industry
– Relatively bug free as gradually developed from
Lucknow, Orissa
Question-3

• What are some of the SMS Unhappy


program’s weaknesses?
Answer-3
• Customer unable to directly access branch and
hear their side of story
• All customers treated equally, problems taken
in sequence
– All problems attended with limited resources
• Unable to pre-empt oncoming dis-satisfaction
or in what area of service it is building up
• Expensive ‘Happy Room’ as senior bankers pay
Question-4

• How does SBI measure customer satisfaction


through its SMS Unhappy program? Can you
improve it?
Answer-4
• How clear and accurate is customer complaint for
solving them? How generic are the problem or an
exception? Issues of EE, mass customer base, tech
savviness of customer
– Using customer info to undertake systemic changes
provide all customers greater service/ satisfaction, how
many appreciate- only niche customers, hi end then why
attend to others?
• Convert complaint mgmt. system to satisfaction mgmt.
system
– What would form satisfaction? what should be measured?
from whom? How?- more proactive
– How to handle volumes of data- Analytics not SMS in
future? What are competitors doing?
Question-5

• Can SMS Unhappy be used to improve retail


service operations at SBI? How?
Answer-5
• Can help to keep control of branch mg.r and
branch personnel
– All branch shortcomings visible to top mgmt. thru SMS
Unhappy
– Transparency at all branches and retail operations
– Because of accumulated complaints branch has to
keep all retail activities at customer promised levels to
avoid more complaints and blacklisting
• Job role definition can pinpoint complaint to
employees, link to incentive/ performance of
employee, Br mgr.
– Comparison across Br decides vertical/ horizontal
movement of employee; multi-site service using IT
– IT to guarantee response to retain customer
Question-6

• What are key concerns regarding national roll


out of the program?
Answer-6
• Can SBI afford senior bankers to monitor
‘Happy Room’ across country?
• How to handle initial spike in complaints
across nation before service levels stabilize-
capacity plng.
– Should it be a gradual roll out region wise?
• If no reward for higher performing Br and no
punishment for lower performing then
demoralization/ no motivation to take up prog
Answer-6 contd…
• Customer complaining without understanding
system/ after doing things wrongly
• How to differentiate between current
operations not being met and improving
/adding new operations
• ‘Expecting the world’ syndrome
• Satisfy existing customers or try and reach out
to new customers?
Implications of national launch
• How to measure impact of SMS Unhappy
program?
• Should there be customer net worth based
segmentation/ gradation of services provided
under the program?
• Could SMS Unhappy serve as an internal
appraisal tool too for SBI
– Would it make SBI a more customer centric orgn.
Question-7

• How can SMS Unhappy help SBI compete


against private banks?
Answer-7
• As a complaint management system SMS
Unhappy can not say if customer demands are
comparable to private banks
• Does not link to decision to stay or move for want
of different set of services
– General & key customer needs may be different
• Need comparative study of competitor prog.
– Need focused resource to counter these, presently all
complaints over SMS attended
• SMS Unhappy is not designed to attract
competitor customers
Learning
• Comprehensive customer complaint mgmt.
system
• Service innovation and service process redesign
• Design effective customer centric organization
• Converting customer complaint into
Management Control System
• Using SMS Unhappy (customer voice) as a service
organization improvement tool
• QC in service thru transparency in distributed
service
• Thank You

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